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Pat Robertson: How Come Booze Is Legal And Not Grass?
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 8, 2012
Modified Mar 8, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 8, 2012
Modified Mar 8, 2012
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Conservative televangelist Pat Robertson is waving the white flag in the war on drugs—or the war on reefer, to be precise. In 2010, Robertson made news when he said on his show, 700 Club, "I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people." Now he's "fully embraced the idea of legalizing marijuana," as the Times puts it, though he's quick to assert, "I’m not a crusader." It goes without saying that Robertson would never use his media profile to crusade for something he believes in.
"I really believe we should treat marijuana the way we treat beverage alcohol," Robertson told the Times yesterday. "I’ve never used marijuana and I don’t intend to, but it’s just one of those things that I think: this war on drugs just hasn’t succeeded... If people can go into a liquor store and buy a bottle of alcohol and drink it at home legally, then why do we say that the use of this other substance is somehow criminal?" Whoa, keep your patch pants on, Hippiepants Reeferson! Next you'll be telling us America's Founding Fathers grew hemp.
To be fair, the thought of Pat Robertson smoking weed explains a lot. "I love him, man, I really do," Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, tells the Times. "He’s singing my song." Who doesn't prefer "Puff The Magic Dragon" over "I Feel The Earth Move (Because Of That Deal With The Devil)"?
Tagged
decriminalization
legalize it
marijuna
pat robertson
reefer
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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